I lived in Houston for eighteen years so I think I understand the psychology that goes through a person’s head when a hurricane approaches. I rode out quite a few hurricanes. A lot of people view hurricanes as inconvenient until they think they are going lose everything they own or to die by one. You learn by making the big mistake. The people whom live on Galveston island are intimately aware of that fine line between inconvenience and dying. If they do not start evacuating early enough they will find themselves on the only bridge out of town or the Interstate when the hurricane arrives. The 1900 hurricane’s storm surge swept over the island and killed 8,000 people.

In Houston there is a considerable area that is susceptable to flooding from the rains and the storm surge. We knew which areas that were at risk. It seems like every year I lived there, Mother Nature reminded us that we were at risk. It wasn’t just hurricanes. I remember a couple of tropical storms that turned the area into one large lake as far as the eye could see.

I do not know why New Orleans had so many people who stayed. They knew New Orleans was below sea level. They know the city is protected by levees. I like nice engineering but I would have bet my life on the levees holding up. This is the disaster scenario they have been discussing since hurricane Betsy. I would have left. Why take the risk? It seems like such a no-brainer I am amazed at the multitude of people remaining.

It make take a few weeks but I expect to start hearing people say they will leave next time a hurricane comes near. I can still remember hearing people in Houston or Galveston saying those things after a hurricane or tropical storm. In the future when the mayor of New Orleans or whoever claims to be in charge asks people to evacuate he or she will get a much better response. People who have health or special needs will leave when asked the first time. These are all common sense practices. Some people will never return to New Orleans. Those who remain will be a lot smarter.

Tonight I will sign up to help with the collection efforts for Katrina at our church. Ultimately it is not about what I would have done but what can I do now. There are people in need and they need help now. My contribution to the relief effort will be small but it is necessary for them and me because I can help. Sitting at home and watching the disaster unfold on the television is just not an option.

Here is a zinger from United Methodist Bishop James Swanson. He notes that today many people simply ditch a computer hopelessly infected with virii, trojan horses or other malicious code, then buy a new replacement.

It is my opinion that it is not in purchasing new equipment or better technology that is our challenge. It is changing our mindset in such a way that we become open to the new possibilities, shapes and forms of offering Christ to an ever-changing world. And maybe it is more cost effective and less stressful to create new churches than it is to repair the infected ones we already have.

Pretty shocking?

The bishop also has some observations about the report of the National Institute of Standards and Technology on why the World Trade Center’s twin towers collapsed, and what their report has to do with the collapse of the mainline churches in the last few decades.

[Via One Hand Clapping]

I am a little tardy linking to this – I didn’t want to lump it into a “round-up” because it is a thoughtful bit of writing that needs to be read and pondered, from Sigmund, Carl and Alfred.

Inasmuch as belief in a deity is now fodder for a journalistic inquisition into the beliefs of a potential Supreme Court Justice, there is one point that is rarely acknowledged.

We have to be talked out of our belief in God. We believe our instinctive beliefs point to a deity.

In other words, belief is God is a more natural state of affairs than non belief. Notwithstanding the inevitable (and shallow) arguments that belief in God is for weak people, and other such arguments, ad nauseum, the fact remains that while we may all argue over exactly what He/She/It is, we believe each of us is born with that inherent belief.

Non believers tell us about injustice and inequity, about the dark side of religion and a thousand and one other such notions. They want to engage us, to argue with us, so as to shake our beliefs, whatever they are.

There is no point in arguing, no point in defending belief in God. It is like trying to describe a painting to a blind person- or, as the Chinese say, “A frog in a well cannot be talked to about the ocean.”

Read the whole thing. And then you might want to scroll up and read more and more continuing thoughts.

Faith is a tough thing to explain. I have had friends who tell me they “envy” my faith and wish they could have it. I always tell them the same thing. “It’s a gift. Ask for it. It’s a choice. Make it.”

UPDATE: This article on Chesterton speaks a little to the whole idea that faith is an argument.

[Via The Anchoress]